IHC fixes May 7 hearing of Imran, Bushra appeals in £190m case

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has fixed May 7 for hearing the main appeals of Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the £190 million corruption case, while declining a request to prioritise their bail pleas.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif decided to proceed with the hearing of the main appeals against their convictions, instead of taking up applications seeking suspension of their sentences first.

The court disposed of the bail-related pleas as “infructuous”, observing that since the main appeals had already been scheduled, separate consideration of sentence suspension was unnecessary.

The defence had argued that the bail applications should be heard first to secure interim relief, but the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) opposed the request, maintaining that once appeals are fixed, such pleas cannot be prioritised.

Earlier, an accountability court had sentenced Imran Khan to 14 years in prison along with a Rs1 million fine, while Bushra Bibi was handed a seven-year sentence and a Rs500,000 fine.

In March, the IHC had also imposed a Rs100,000 fine on NAB’s special prosecutor for delaying tactics in the case proceedings.

Imran Khan, who has been incarcerated since August 2023, faces multiple cases ranging from corruption to terrorism following his removal from office through a no-confidence motion in April 2022.

The case, widely known as the Al-Qadir Trust or £190 million case, revolves around allegations that in 2019, a settlement involving £190 million — repatriated by the UK’s National Crime Agency — was improperly adjusted against liabilities linked to a property tycoon.

While the British agency had described the settlement as a civil matter without any finding of guilt, NAB alleges that the agreement was approved by then-prime minister Imran Khan without disclosing details of the confidential arrangement.